Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543434
M A R C H 2 0 2 6 15 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Rocque e Allen— Women's Lacrosse The Nittany Lion laxers are off to their best start in nearly a decade, and Allen has been a big part of their rise. Through the team's first five games, all victories, the freshman attacker from Lone Tree, Colo., was third in the Big Ten with 15 goals and second in points with 21. Allen scored the winning goal in overtime to help lift the No. 21 Lions over 20th-ranked Pitt, 12-11, at Holuba Hall on Feb. 18. Prior to PSU's victory over the Panthers, she had 5 goals apiece in back- to-back home wins over Massachusetts (17-9, Feb. 11) and Bucknell (21-9, Feb. 15). Gavin McKenna — Men's Ice Hockey McKenna had a huge weekend in Penn State's two-game sweep of Ohio State at Pegula Ice Arena Feb. 20-21. In the series opener, the freshman forward from Whitehorse, Yukon, set a Big Ten single-game record with 7 assists in the Nittany Lions' 11-4 romp. McKenna also had a goal and finished the night with 8 points, setting a Penn State record. The following night, he scored the winning goal in a 5-4 overtime victory over the Buckeyes. Through 28 games, McKenna was tied for second in the Big Ten with 43 points on 30 assists and 13 goals. Kiyomi McMiller — Women's Basketball McMiller had scored 30 or more points in five consecutive games prior to Penn State's matchup with visiting USC on Feb. 25. The sophomore guard from Silver Spring, Md., had 30 points in an over- time win over Purdue on Feb. 4, followed by 37 versus Michigan State, 30 at Maryland, 32 against Northwestern and 37 at Rutgers. McMiller, who started her career with the Scarlet Knights, hit 14 of 21 attempts from the floor against her former team while adding 8 assists, 5 steals and 4 rebounds in PSU's 87-78 road win on Feb. 21. Through 27 games, she was fourth in the Big Ten with a 21.6-point scoring average. Handal Roban — Men's Track and Field Roban shared Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week honors following his performance at the ASICS Sound Running Invite on Feb. 14 in Winston- Salem, N.C. The senior from St. Vincent and the Grenadines finished the 800-meter race in 1:44.73, the second-fastest time in NCAA history and a Penn State record. It was the second time during the 2026 indoor sea- son that Roban broke the school record in the event, having previously done so with a time of 1:44.91 at the Penn State National Open two weeks earlier. On Feb. 7, he broke the PSU 600-meter record with a 1:14.89 at the Sykes & Sabock Challenge. — Matt Herb PENN STATE'S TOP PERFORMERS Penn State senior forward Tessa Ja- necke shined at her first Olympics, help- ing the United States win the gold medal in women's ice hockey at the Milan Cor- tina Games in Italy. Janecke finished with 5 assists in seven games for the Americans, a total that was tied for fourth on the team and sixth among all players at this year's Winter Games. Two of those assists came in Team USA's 5-1 victory over Czechia on Feb. 5 to open the competition. The Or- angeville, Ill., native also had assists in wins over Canada (5-0, Feb. 10), Italy (6-0, Feb. 13) and Sweden (5-0, Feb. 16). Team USA's victories over the Italians in the quarterfinal round and the Swiss in the semis set up a rematch with Can- ada. In contrast to the Americans' lop- sided victory in the preliminary round, this one was a thriller that went to over- time. Janecke was on the ice when Hilary Knight tied the score at 1-1 on a de- flected shot with just over two minutes remaining in the third period after the Americans had pulled their goalie. She was on the ice in overtime, too. Four minutes into the extra period, Megan Keller scored to give Team USA its third gold medal in women's ice hockey. Janecke, who had scored the winning goal over Canada at the IIHF Women's World Championship last April, was part of dominant offensive attack at the Olympics. Team USA outscored its oppo- nents 33-2 en route to the gold medal. Three other players with PSU ties took part in the women's ice hockey competi- tion at the Winter Games. Sophomore forward Nicole Hall and program alumna Jessica Adolfsson played for Sweden, which finished fourth after dropping the bronze medal game, 2-1, to Switzerland. Also, freshman forward Matilde Fantin played for host Italy, which went 2-2 in group play before falling to Team USA in the quarters. Janecke, Hall and Fantin were all slated rejoin Penn State in time for its Atlan- tic Hockey America Tournament opener against Syracuse on Feb. 27 at Pegula Ice Arena. — Matt Herb Tessa Janecke Wins Hockey Gold At Winter Olympics Janecke tied for fourth on the team with 5 assists in seven games at the Olympics. PHOTO COURTESY USA HOCKEY